User experience (UX) design is the process of improving user satisfaction with a product by focusing on things like usability and accessibility.
What is information architecture? According to Abby Covert, a leader in the field of information architecture, IA is ‘the way we arrange the parts to make sense of the whole.’ Information architecture (IA) is found in every digital product, from websites and apps to an intranet. For the purposes of this article we focus on... View Article
Designing for a mobile app is quite different to designing for websites. The content may be similar (even the same) but the intent for users is likely to be different, as are the environments and occasions they use them. When designing for mobile the information architecture (IA) uses a different set of rules. The key... View Article
Knowing and understanding why and how your users use your product can be invaluable for getting to the nitty gritty of usability. Where they get stuck and where they fly through. Delving deep with probing questions into motivation or skimming over looking for issues can equally be informative. Usability testing can be done in several... View Article
James Erwin fell into the world of information architecture (IA) by accident earlier in his design career and it’s fuelled his curiosity ever since. We talk to him about his design journey, his obsession with understanding where IA and UX meet, and his approach to product design at Optimal Workshop. You go by the title... View Article
Return on investment (ROI) is often the term on everyone’s lips when starting a big project or even when reviewing a website. It’s especially popular with those that hold the purse strings. As UX researchers it is important to consider the ROI of the work we do and understand how to measure this. We’ve lined... View Article
An impressive line-up of researchers, strategists, and designers from the global UX community shared their ideas, experiences, insights, and approaches to effective ways of working at this year’s 100% virtual 3-day UX New Zealand conference. We introduce 7 speakers, highlight what they had to say, and share their full video presentations. 1. How to design... View Article
User research is key to discovering the inner workings of your users’ minds – their emotional, organizational, informative needs and desires. These are all super important to creating a user experience that is intuitive and meeting your users’ needs in a way that means they feel loved, cared for and considered. All the deep understanding... View Article
Information architecture (IA) is everywhere. Like the best websites and apps in the digital world, information architecture also brings clarity and understanding to the real world. It helps us navigate complexity and clutter, enables us to get things done more easily even with enjoyment, and reduces our cognitive load as we go about our lives. As... View Article
Some of the team at Optimal Workshop HQ, Wellington, NZ
From left: Andrew Mayfield(CEO), Ben O’Grady(CFO), Seth Strumph(CTO), Meiken Bassant(COO) FEB 8TH, 2022, WELLINGTON NZ: Optimal Workshop, a world leader in information architecture (IA) and digital user experience software, today announced a NZ$10 million investment by New Zealand private equity firm, Pioneer Capital. It’s the first investment for Optimal Workshop, a New Zealand company with... View Article